June 2015 Goals Progress Report: First Half

Believe it or not we are already in July.

That means we have already seen half the year pass and it is time for a fresh review of my progress so far towards my investing goals for the year.

My last update at the first quarter mark of the year showed me making good progress. Has this been repeated now we top over into the second part of the year?

Let's take a quick look.

1: Retain a portfolio yield of more than 1.25 times the FTSE All Share yield.

Well on 2 July the FTSE All Share yield was sitting at 3.41% after the Greek Crisis rout. As a result, my portfolio target is 4.26%. So what is my portfolio yield at present? 

4.03%. Obviously this means I am a little over 5% below my current target. 

However, I am pretty happy overall with this. Recently I have been focusing on high dividend growers rather than high dividend yielders. As such, this has pushed me below my target.

That being said, I am still above 4% which--for me--is an excellent yield which has a nice mix of yield and growth (my overall yield is anticipated to organically grow by about 5.3% next year...not bad).

A bit behind target.

2: Earn £800 or more from dividends

This would represent an average target of about £66.67 per month. So far this year I am running at an average monthly income of £92.86. This means that, with the first half of 2015 already tucked away in bed, I have already pulled in a tidy £557.17 in dividend income. 

I am, therefore, only £242.83 short of my target for the rest of year. As a result, I just need to average £40.47 per month from this point onwards in order to hit my target. 

Just running some quick numbers, I predict my dividend income will very, very easily surpass this goal. As a result, I think it is time to revise this up a little. In fact, not a little but by 37.5% to £1,100.

Now, you may think if I have already pulled in nearly £560 this year I should easily hit £1,100. After all, multiplying £560 by two would offer £1,120. However, I think this is a nicely challenging goal as the first half was much stronger than the second half is looking likely to be.  Consequently, I think this is a solid yet aspirational goal. We will see if it is too much.

Well ahead of target. Revised target: £1,100.

3: Reach a "Work Freedom Day" of 3 February 2015

As is apparent above, my first half dividend income has been much stronger than I anticipated. However, I have also been stronger than I thought in another area: expenses cutting. So far this year my average monthly expenses has been £745.50. That is a massive 12% lower than my average monthly expenses in 2014 of £843.

As such, my daily expenses are running at about £24.51 in 2015.

As a result of this I am doing very well with my "Work Freedom Day" target. Already I am up to 22 January 2015. I only have 12 more days to make up to hit my target of 3 February.

I think this goal therefore needs to be ratcheted up a bit. I will therefore add another week (that is to 10 February 2015) to my "Work Freedom Day" target.

Well ahead of target. Revised target: 10 February 2015. 

4: Retain a portfolio Beta volatility value of less than 0.85

Back in March my portfolio Beta was sitting at 0.79. I have since then added quite a few high Beta companies. As a result, I have seen my volatility grow a little to 0.81 since then. Still comfortably below the 0.85 target. Looking good so far.

On target.

5: Hold at least 25 equities but fewer than 30 (not including spin-offs/corporate actions)

Back in March I had 26 holdings in my portfolio. However, since then I have bought into new holdings in:

1. FTSE 250 soft-drinks maker, Britvic (LSE:BVIC)
2. FTSE 100 insurance and investment giant, Legal & General (LON:LGEN)
3. Eastern and Central Europe-focused alcoholic drinks maker, Stock Spirits Group (LON:STCK)
4. FTSE 100 advertising the media giant, WPP (LSE:WPP)
5. FTSE 100 pharmaceutical giant, AstraZeneca (LON:AZN)

I have also had two new additions brought in through corporate actions:

1. S&P 500 reinsurance giant, XL Group (NYSE:XL) after they purchased Catlin Group.
2. Australian mining company, South32 (LON:S32) which was spun-off from BHP Billiton. 

As a result of all these changes I have 32 holdings in total. However, taking into account the corporate actions the figure sits at 30. As a result, I am bumping my head on the upper limit I set myself. 

In reality, I am unsure how useful this target is. I therefore think it is best to either retire or revise it. For now I will revise it dramatically to between 30 and 45 companies but this time including corporate actions.

On target. Target revised to between 30 and 45 companies (including corporate actions).

6: Reduce Trading Charges to below 1.3% of total invested in year.

So far this year I have invested £12,188.82 of new capital in equities. Of this, £150.66 has been eaten up by trading fees. As a result, my current trading charges percentage is 1.24% of the total invested. Back in March this was sitting at 1.3%. As a result I am pretty happy to say that I am improving rapidly in bringing this down.

For now I will keep this target as it is. However, there is the possibility of revising this down further to perhaps 1.25%.

Ahead of target. Target under review.

7: Increase Diversification

My final goal was to increases diversification. At the start of the year this involved two particular focuses:

1. Inclusion of a property-related investment;
2. Addition of a non-UK listed company or non-UK focused investment trust.

The first part I achieved in the first quarter of this year. So what about the second? Well, yes, I have really as noted above with the addition (admittedly through an acquisition) of XL Group to my portfolio. As such, I think I am happy to mark this as achieved as well.

In reality, I would over time like to build up a modest non-UK listed portfolio. However, I think I will wait until I decide to set-up a SIPP (self-invested personal pension) account as this has favourable dividend withholding tax rates for certain countries (such as the US, which is 0%).

I am also now pretty happy with the diversification of my portfolio not only geographically (according to sales) but also across sectors. As a result, I think I can now retire this specific goal rather than revise it.

Achieved. New target postponed.

Conclusion

Overall I am pretty happy with my progress so far this year.

Most of my goals for the year are either achieved, on track or at least not too far away from being so. Also, it is encouraging that I am able to revise so many of them to be tougher for the second half of the year. Hopefully I can still reach even these targets.

However, the second half of the year will see me with more limited funds to spare. As a result, things may become a little more challenging. We will see!

How are you doing with your targets so far this year? Are you ahead or behind schedule?

Like what you have read?
Sign up to receive FREE email updates when new content is published:

---

Why not also follow me on Twitter and like me on Facebook?

---

[Creative Commons image reproduced from Flickr user Kevan]